Need a wifi Thermostat (and wiring question)

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nola mike

nola mike

Minister of Fire
Sep 13, 2010
928
Richmond/Montross, Virginia
Does a tstat count as gear?

Anyway, I have this thermostat at the river, which has been great. I use it to take the chill out of the air when I go down with the wife and kiddies (usually I keep the temp at 42' when I'm not there) before I get a chance to fire up the stove. Problem is that the heat pump always wants to crank up the aux heat when warming up from that temp. I disconnected the aux heat, but would like that functionality if needed. Is there a wifi thermostat that would allow me to either a) manually control the aux heat or b) allow me to have more control over when it comes on (ie, only if the set temp is > 15 from actual temp, or whatever).

Second question:
If I can find a suitable replacement tstat, I'm going to move the above to my main house. Mostly heated by wood, but esp if I'm out of town, I'd like to control the gas. I have a standard A/C unit and a 2 wire gas furnace with radiator heat. Currently 2 thermostats. I'm re-doing the furnace wiring (getting rid of some knob and tube) and would like to consolidate the 2 stats. Seems like all I'd need to do is share the R terminals between the furnace and air handler and use the W terminal for the furnace. Don't think I'd run into any issues sharing an R terminal, but wanted to check. This would also give me a C terminal for the gas furnace so I can stop using the fu#$@ng batteries...
 
nola mike said:
Does a tstat count as gear?

Anyway, I have this thermostat at the river, which has been great. I use it to take the chill out of the air when I go down with the wife and kiddies (usually I keep the temp at 42' when I'm not there) before I get a chance to fire up the stove. Problem is that the heat pump always wants to crank up the aux heat when warming up from that temp. I disconnected the aux heat, but would like that functionality if needed. Is there a wifi thermostat that would allow me to either a) manually control the aux heat or b) allow me to have more control over when it comes on (ie, only if the set temp is > 15 from actual temp, or whatever).

Second question:
If I can find a suitable replacement tstat, I'm going to move the above to my main house. Mostly heated by wood, but esp if I'm out of town, I'd like to control the gas. I have a standard A/C unit and a 2 wire gas furnace with radiator heat. Currently 2 thermostats. I'm re-doing the furnace wiring (getting rid of some knob and tube) and would like to consolidate the 2 stats. Seems like all I'd need to do is share the R terminals between the furnace and air handler and use the W terminal for the furnace. Don't think I'd run into any issues sharing an R terminal, but wanted to check. This would also give me a C terminal for the gas furnace so I can stop using the fu#$@ng batteries...
Click to expand...


We use the Venstar ColorTouch t-stats (with the skyports) at work and think they do just want you are looking for. We use the T5800.
 
With these new fangled WiFi Thermostats, what happens if you lose your internet ?
 
nola mike said:
Does a tstat count as gear?
Problem is that the heat pump always wants to crank up the aux heat when warming up from that temp. I disconnected the aux heat, but would like that functionality if needed. Is there a wifi thermostat that would allow me to either a) manually control the aux heat or b) allow me to have more control over when it comes on (ie, only if the set temp is > 15 from actual temp, or whatever).
Click to expand...

This is a tough one to answer without knowing anything about your heat pump. My guess is that your heat pump calls for aux heat when temperature is X degrees below setpoint, though I don't know how your heat pump would know that from a third party thermostat. So my best suggestion would be to buy a 2-stage thermostat and wire the 2nd stage to your aux heat. If you want it to only activate at 15 F from setpoint then you'll probably need a tstat where the differential for the 2nd stage is adjustable. Though you are always going to have a problem if you are trying to heat from 42 F up to 65 F (23 F) without using any aux heat.

By the way that is the cheapest wifi thermostat that I've ever seen. Pretty ugly and looks like the only real interface is over wifi, but it is cheap.
 
@velvetfoot : perfect. I'm sure I can fInd the right combo with all those settings. I was looking at the user manual.
@AK13 :that ecobee controls when the aux heat is called for, and has a bunch of settings that you can tweak. Yeah, the motison stat is ugly, but cheap. The web interface is very easy to use. Would work great for 99% of people.
 
I had that Motison thermostat initially, but it didn't work with my router. I didn't like that it wasn't programable without a web connection.
 
Eh, for as often as I would program it, and considering how much easier the web interface is, not much of a problem. I suspect that any WiFi tstat will be much easier to program through the app/web.
 
There might some time limits where it makes some assumption and starts up the aux heat. If you need more time, you might be out of luck. That's all I sort of remember, and I mean sort.
 
nola mike said:
Eh, for as often as I would program it, and considering how much easier the web interface is, not much of a problem. I suspect that any WiFi tstat will be much easier to program through the app/web.
Click to expand...
True. Much easier on mine too.
 
Looks like you have the option to program a differential temperature, a time to aux heat (turns on aux heat after 2 hours if not to set temp), or worst case I can turn it on/off manually (aux heat can be set to never turn on). Lots of flexibility. Currently aux heat turns on if there is more than a(non adjustable) diff between set and actual temp.
 
I use 2 of these.

http://www.controlbyweb.com/x300/

Not cheap but they've worked well for 2 years now.
I control our M55 insert with one and the oil burner + AC with the other.
I use an iPhone, a lap top or even my work computer with an internet connection.
I spend a lot of time traveling but can see and control the house temperature from anywhere.

They have 3 controllable relays so you can put a relay on the Aux and control it independently.
They are designed for controlling individual units in apartment blocks and timeshares.
They are ethernet enabled only so you will have to create a wireless hub to one.
Its actually easier for me to run a ethernet cable from the main router to each and so avoid wireless issues.
 
I looked at that too. There's no web server involved, as I recall, so it would continue to work if the thermostat company shuts down.
 
velvetfoot said:
I looked at that too. There's no web server involved, as I recall, so it would continue to work if the thermostat company shuts down.
Click to expand...

Each is its own web page. You just log in as Admin and have complete control from anywhere.
The price is the main issue but they really work well.
 
Wow, that's geek-tastic! I like being able to have multiple remote sensors (I could monitor the temps in the crawl space, where my pipes are). However, I don't really feel like routing cat5 to it, and itlooks like there's no control at all except via internet...
 
nola mike said:
Wow, that's geek-tastic! I like being able to have multiple remote sensors (I could monitor the temps in the crawl space, where my pipes are). However, I don't really feel like routing cat5 to it, and it looks like there's no control at all except via internet...
Click to expand...

If wireless is important then you'd need a wireless extender. These are cheap enough.
I set our temps when home with any web enabled device (laptop, iPad, iPhone...).

The logging function is great. I have temperature records for the last 2 years at 10 min intervals.
But you are right, it is geeky !
 
Ended up getting the ecobee, installed it, and...DOA. Boo. Had to then remove it and reinstall the old one, and am now waiting on a replacement
 
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